Fractal Film: All the Possibilities of a Look

Antoine Schmitt, an artist awarded an Honourable Mention in VIDA 5.0, has recently presented Fractal Film, a generative video installation created in conjunction with Delphine Doukhan. Fractal Film consists of a short scene written and directed by Doukhan, in which six characters dance to the rhythm of the well-known song “Fly Me to the Moon” (Bart Howard, 1954) and relate to each other through gestures and looks. The scene in itself is open to different interpretations, which are multiplied because of the set up of the “camera” created by Schmitt. The original material, a high definition video (5K), filmed with eight cameras, is explored by a programme that selects different fragments of the scene and different camera angles to display an infinitely varied composition. The video therefore shows a different version of the scene each time that it is shown, in a loop of infinite length. By focusing on one character, one gesture or one different detail each time, the video progressively reveals the multiple aspects of the scene and gives rise to different readings.

Fractal Film therefore seeks to “exhaust the view of a given scene” by means of an exploration that is not random but follows a series of rules about movement based on an analysis of cinematographic language, animal behaviour, mathematics and physics. The result is notably similar to a consciously produced work, in which the zoom, the movements of the camera and the framing contribute to telling the story. The video therefore proposes the possibilities of a generative work as well as the multiple ways in which we are able to interpret a scene.